The Island Club at North Captiva

We stayed at 086, Silverseas Cottage. Typically, I don't leave many reviews, but many people like us have not traveled much in the past year, so the stakes for a good vacation are even higher.

The cottage was nicely updated. We did experience a noticeable damp, muggy feeling and smell in the home. The smell was still noticeable on our clothing when we got back to our home. Hopefully, it's something they can look at. Unfortunately, we dealt with a home being built directly behind us and a pool heater that did not work. We made the most of it, but were bummed as both took away from our stay. This information was not disclosed to us ahead of time.

Most of our frustrations came from our experience with the North Captiva Island Club. We arrived on the island and relied on a homeowner on the island to guide us. We paid for luggage service. We thought they would bring up our stuff to the top of the steps. Luckily, we happened to look to see our luggage and groceries sitting below. We tried to get carryout food from the Over the Waterfront Restaurant as it stated you could do so on their Google listing. They only offer dine in. So, make sure to note that. The morning we were leaving, we got an email stating the wrong house to pick up our luggage. We tried calling the office and left 3 messages. Luckily, we had 2 golf carts (we didn't know we had 2 until the second arrived the day before we left) and managed to get out stuff and take it with us. We never heard anything back.

The major "pro" of the island are the beaches. It's tranquil and beautiful. We love that there are no cars on the island and the relaxed vibe. Otherwise, it's time for the management of the island to put some work into to making it nicer. I feel they have been getting by for years (we have been there a few times) without making improvements. No updates from December 2018 to April 2021.

Update: we received $450 back after we stayed here. This is a beautiful island, just make sure there is not a construction site next to you or make this group promise a refund if a construction site is next door. We rented a house for one week 086, Silverseas Cottage at N. Captiva Island. There was a huge construction site next door that woke us up at 7: 30AM every morning until 4: 30pm every day that ruined our vacation. Hammers and saws blazing early every morning, less than 20 feet from our pool. There’s construction happening all over the island and I’m sure it will be an issue for other people’s vacations! The resort seemed to have no idea there was a construction project happening next door, but the crew told us that they had been working for two weeks already. The construction was very loud and destroyed the tranquility for our entire trip! The resort seemed to ignore us after we requested compensation. For a place offering a more secluded, high end vacation option, there should be an improved level of customer service and satisfaction. This island is meant to be a quiet place to get away and it is a very different situation with noisy construction. There should be more transparency and a clearly discounted offer due to the construction, but nothing was mentioned or offered.

I visited North Captiva Island club resort with my family and we had the most exhilarating moment of all time. The beauty of the island, the staff and the food and service at Mangos pool bar was too great.
Looking forward to return next year.

This is where the wife and I shared our wedding! Such a beautiful island with so many fun things to do and you are guaranteed to see dolphins every day!

We had our wedding at the North Captiva Island Club in mid-April and it was a perfect day. The weather and location were ideal and exactly the kind of destination wedding that we wanted to have, even in the midst of the pandemic. It was intimate and fun.

We did have issues early on in the process in getting in touch with the wedding coordinator on the island (they are sometimes very much on "island time" and it took a long time to hear back from the venue about questions). However, as we got closer to the wedding the staff changed and Jeff Pence, who is the marketing coordinator for the venue, took over. He was incredibly communicative and worked with our day-of planner to make sure everything was lined up.

The ceremony setup was great and beautiful (they worked with our flower vendor Something Bloomed to set up our chuppah on the beach), and the reception setup was beautiful and relaxed. Everyone had a great time at the reception - the drinks flowed liberally and the music was lively. The staff wore masks at our request and we never felt unsafe.

Overall, the setting was relaxed and a perfect getaway for ourselves and our guests. We'd highly recommend North Captiva Island Club if you want are looking for a low-key and intimate wedding.

0 stars if it were possible. Good luck communicating with customer service. Please consider other options for your vacation.

I booked 2 houses for a week in mid June. I had to cancel inside the 60 day mark due to an unexpected surgical procedure I need. I called for days on end, emailed etc with no response. I finally reached someone with a “ I don’t give a $h.t” attitude who told me I had to use my trip insurance for a refund. Meanwhile they have already Re-rented BOTH properties out— DOUBLE DIPPING, now I have to file reams of paperwork, get my Dr.to submit my confidential health info etc! If you’ve ever used trip insurance you know how difficult this can be. These people have no morals!

RENT HERE AT YOUR OWN PERIL

On our inbound trip, we had heavy rain. The luggage boat was not covered with a tarp and we spent the remainder of the day doing laundry. On our return trip, the boat ran out of gas in the middle of the bay. Very disappointed.

We paid the weekly fee to be able to access the amenities at NCIC. We used the tennis courts (using their rackets & balls which were not in the best shape.) The water in the pool was ice cold. Food was average. Employees were just downright rude.

The island beaches are serene & natural for at times it seems we had the whole beach to ourselves. Food was excellent & all the staff are very friendly. The only problem I had is with the bikes the club rents out. They are falling apart, rusted & in need of some good maintenance. The battery for the golf cart we used should have been replaced, couldn’t hold the charge. Otherwise a perfect getaway vacation.

Do not expect any form of customer service. My wife and I picked pelican point #163 because of the jacuzzi hot tub. We received correspondence stating that the home was all ready for us to enjoy prior to arrival. When we arrived the jacuzzi was cold and had no power. We also had no hot water in the home due to a bad water heater. After a full day of travel from 6am to 5pm we couldn’t even get a shower. Someone came out to replace elements and had to recruit help because he couldn’t find the heater. We helped them for 2 hours as they broke into locked closets and garage doors looking for the heater. This made our start to what was supposed to be a relaxing stress free week annoying, loud and anything but private. There were people in the home from 530p to 830p, not having hot water for a shower till 930p. I was told at that time someone would be out the following morning to fix the hot tub.
This was a bad start, and the next day got worse. We were informed the hot water heater was going to be replaced at noon. So, we planned a day at the beach swimming and seashell hunting. We didn’t arrive back until 530p, and there was no hot water again! The installer, who had no help, couldn’t access the tank and drain it for removal. Wet, cold, sandy and miserable we decided to just get in the hot tub and wait. Nope! No one repaired it! So once again we had to wait for a shower freezing our tails off. Hot water was restored by 730p. We called and left messages about the jacuzzi and received ZERO responses.we also found out on the second day that the top tier viewing deck was roped off because it was rotting!
As discussed with one of the men who seemed to be in charge that first night, the only reason my wife and I paid for a full 10 person home was the jacuzzi hot tub. He said he would make sure we were compensated appropriately, and that it had been down for awhile! We were compensated nothing. We could have stayed many other, cheaper places but we wanted to be spoiled. The hot tub was never repaired.
I get it, stuff breaks. My irritation lies in the fact that
1: we were victims of false advertising
2: we were told the home was ready for us to enjoy
3: the lack of correspondence from the island club, and to be frank, the island clubs refusal to respond in any way to address the experience of our stay.
We’d have been better off spending far less on a smaller home. I am disappointed and have to say they were very unprofessional. They completely ignored all 3 emails and all 4 phone calls made after they installed the water heater. By doing so, they have made it quite clear that once they have your money, screw you.
All that being said, the island was beautiful and the people on the island were friendly.

You will not believe the view! After a beautiful sunset ferry trip to Ncap we checked in and found our golf cart ready and a smiling face to answer my questions!
242 is a killer beach home with 2 master suites. The view has to be the best on island! Hundred yards of white sand and palm trees! The staff was so friendly. The owner even checked to see if we were happy!
Plus it was one of the lower priced homes. What a vacation! I love North Captiva Island Club!

We had a really terrible experience with North Captiva Island Club. Extremely rude and unprofessional. If we ever go back, it will only be under the condition that we do not rent through them.

The bar and pool are nice. The ferry over is difficult to register for trips and the site is awkward to navigate. If heading for the day and not staying on island plan ahead and rent a golf cart

We had a real rough start but the staff responded tremendously, especially JJ, to make it a great 5 days. Dolphin watch rental is a wonderful location.

Needs better upkeep.pool in general filthy all the time.mangos is great hang out and decent food.mangos store helps with missed items

My family booked a rental through this management company on North Captiva Island. We paid exactly how it was spelled out in the contract.we had airline tickets, booked a boat for the week, etc. And then two weeks before we leave for the trip, we get this email from Cindy Gabriel, who works for this management company:

Hello,

This email is to inform that the owner of 214 Skylark has decided to cancel your reservation due to the rates being too low. Unfortunately since we are only the property mangers we have to abide by the owners sudden change. "

Total bait and switch. The same property was still available to rent except it was approximately $2,000 more for the week.

They did refund our money for the house, but our trip was ruined and we still lost money on airline tickets, etc.

We did contact a lawyer who agreed they breached their contract with us. In the end, it wasn't worth it pursue in a Florida court.and I think they knew that when they canceled our trip.

I would advise anyone who is considering these folks to look elsewhere.

No cars, great place for an open beach wedding without any COVID worries being on the beautiful open beach. Catering service on site! No high rises, sandy roads, half the island a state of Florida preserve! Variety of homes for rent, internet, and grocery service. Ferry boat has a regular schedule. The club takes care of everything with one phone call!

North Captiva Club good - 109 Manatee Manor needs a facelift.
We travelled to North Captiva for a wedding on the island. Getting to the island is a bit of a trek, but they make it fairly easy by outlining the route from RSW to the club (town car - shuttle to ferry - ferry to club - golf cart to house rental). For our group of four it was $86 both ways to and from the airport, and $88 to and from North Captiva to Pine Island. Didn't really factor that in to the total cost of the trip, but it does add up.

Overall, the North Captiva Club was beautiful for the wedding reception, and should we have spent more time at the pools during the day, I think we would have had a great time. We instead spent most of our time at our house rental (109 Manatee Manor) primarily because it had a private beach.

Our group consisted of four couples, which is why we chose 109 (4BD/4BA). The house itself was huge, but we were pretty disappointed at the misleading photographs in terms of how up to date the inside of the home was. Specifically in terms of the bath accommodations, and the Wifi/TV. Most of the bathroom showers either didn't work, or had incredibly poor water pressure. One of our guests actually cut his hand on one of the bath fixtures because it was so corroded. While the house does have WiFi and a TV, neither worked ALL week because it was such a poor connection. Another group in the wedding party had a completely updated house down the road, and we kept saying, if our house would just make a few updates throughout our house, we would have easily spent an additional $1-2K more a week for our house. Great value, but now we know why.

Overall I would say give North Captiva a go - it's the closest you can get to a Caribbean Island without leaving the states.

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> Just a quick email about our stay at the 437 LongLook Beachhouse.
> We were thrilled to find the pictures accurate, super close to the beach and void of any homes to the left and right.
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> The problems started when we entered the rental. We were confused to find wet areas in the living room. During that evenings storm, we had multiple leaks from the 4 skylights.
> To be fair, after stopping by the office, a maintenance man was sent, although the leaks continued daily throughout our stay.
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> The bigger problems were the ants and water system. The ants attacked any food item left on counters. I put a morning donuts on a plate the first morning went to pour juice and turned around to find the donuts covered in ants (15 seconds). Any food item opened (chips, sugar, etc) had to be kept in the refrigerator. We asked for a solution to the pest problem, but never saw the exterminator we were promised.
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> The biggest issue was the water. I located a water system outside, but wasn’t able to tell if it was working. The high sulfur level in the water made washing dishes, brushing teeth and showering a daily nightmare. Thankfully, we had friends on the island, and often used their house for relief. The interior of the house smelled like rotten eggs anytime someone briefly used the water.
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> Other small issues include- Three grills, none that seem to work, and a empty gas cylinder. We were told we were responsible for returning to office for exchange?
> Our first golf cart stranded us, despite being fully charged, the second cart had zero power, and had trouble pulling us out of the many potholes throughout the island.
> Thankfully, we were able to depend on our friends to get us around the island. Outdoor lights burnt out, and full of bugs…. I changed bulbs and cleaned globes for future guests.
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> These drawbacks did not keep us from having a great vacation, but for future visits we will do more research on the homes you offer.